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Under Heaven kayguygavriel 9780007342013 Books

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Under Heaven kayguygavriel 9780007342013 Books

Guy Gavriel Kay has not yet written a bad book. Ever. His signature scene is a highly evocative bittersweet moment in which a great tragedy is portrayed with beauty, or a hero-riding-off-into-the-sunset scene is presented in a way that makes the reader experience profound regret at his departure. When you run across one of these "Kay scenes," you'll know it. It'll hit you like a ton of bricks, and you'll be reaching for your hanky to wipe the tears away.

Under Heaven is set in a fictionalize version of ancient China. The hero is the son of a great general, who has recently died. As the story opens, Shen Tai has chosen to bury the dead of an old battle in the remote west as a way of mourning his father. While doing that, he earns the respect of both his own people and their former enemies, who take turns bringing him food and other supplies. A princess born among his own people, given in marriage to the king of the western power, chooses to gift Shen Tai with a great many horses of surpassing excellence - a gift befitting an emperor. Shen Tai knows that he won't be allowed to keep the horses, but he might be able to have a say in who ultimately gets them. And with that scenario, a great story begins.


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Under Heaven kayguygavriel 9780007342013 Books Reviews

This is one of the best fantasy books I have read, period. It takes us back to an early, imaginary China. It's really a tragic love story couched in magic and legend. I'm not going to use my review to give away the plot; instead I'm going to focus on craft. What I like best is that the author Kay breaks many of the conventional "truths" about writing. At least a third of the book is in backstory, a complete no-no. However, the backstory is so compelling that the shifts are welcome we can't wait to find out why a character acts the way he does by exploring his backstory. Kay uses various points of view, including occasionally bit characters that appear once and never again. This helps us explore the world of this imaginary ancient China from different perspectives and get a full, rounded view of the place. Finally he uses different tenses for the narration, past and present. Once again, your average writing manual will tell you to always keep the same tense in the book. As a writer myself, I love the fact that Kay breaks so many rules and gets away with it.
I've been a big fan of Guy Gavriel Kay ever since I first read the Fionovar Tapestry when it came as a single volume from my dad's membership in the Sci-Fi book club.

I have to admit that it took a little while for me to get into the ancient China mojo. Once I was in, I was completely in.

You can always tell how much research he puts into his books.

I was a little let down by the end. He could have proved his point about all people and events just being blips in the stream of time AND still given us a better conclusion to the tales of the individual characters.

If you like GGK, then you will like this book. If you aren't familiar but like Fantasy/History/Literary blend, then give it a read or start with another of his offerings - Tigana, Lions of Al-Rassan, etc.

All in all. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read and I've already purchased the next book (not the same characters and set 600 years later).
This was my first book by Kay and I bought it because I live in Asia (Japan) and wanted to see how he handled the culture. He does it very well and the writing is extremely good. There is a hint of fantasy, but it's really more like historical fiction. The characters aren't perfect and do things that seem hard to understand, but that makes them more human. The overall story is interesting and the main character Shen Tai is worth spending time with. The other characters are fairly well drawn, but I somehow didn't like this book quite as much as I should have.
Beautifully written, with rich, complex characters, each its own work of art, this story held me enthralled from beginning to end. The tale starts with a single man burying the dead to honor his father’s memory, much like an oboe solo at the beginning of a symphony. One by one, other characters join the story, adding different voices to a story based in the history of the Tang dynasty. The symphony of conflicting needs and desires twists and turns through the imperial court to the grasses of the Steppe and myriad locations across mythical Kitai. I was sad to read the last words again for the third, or maybe fourth, time through. But I will pick it up again in a year or so, and count on being equally enthralled when that happens.
Guy Gavriel Kay has not yet written a bad book. Ever. His signature scene is a highly evocative bittersweet moment in which a great tragedy is portrayed with beauty, or a hero-riding-off-into-the-sunset scene is presented in a way that makes the reader experience profound regret at his departure. When you run across one of these "Kay scenes," you'll know it. It'll hit you like a ton of bricks, and you'll be reaching for your hanky to wipe the tears away.

Under Heaven is set in a fictionalize version of ancient China. The hero is the son of a great general, who has recently died. As the story opens, Shen Tai has chosen to bury the dead of an old battle in the remote west as a way of mourning his father. While doing that, he earns the respect of both his own people and their former enemies, who take turns bringing him food and other supplies. A princess born among his own people, given in marriage to the king of the western power, chooses to gift Shen Tai with a great many horses of surpassing excellence - a gift befitting an emperor. Shen Tai knows that he won't be allowed to keep the horses, but he might be able to have a say in who ultimately gets them. And with that scenario, a great story begins.